A Patient’s Perspective of Diabetes

Judith Coggles

Introduction

• Who am I?• How and where did I discover I had diabetes?

- Lost 2 babies – sugar in urine at booking clinic, King’s College Hosp, weight loss!

- How was I treated?

- I was 32, diet, medication, insulin Type 1• What effect did it have on my life/how did I feel?• Always there at the back of my mind even now.• Livable with, but boring.

Needles!!!!

• Blood glucose monitoring.

- Old equipment, quite scary!!

- Time consuming, painful, lots of blood• New equipment

- Quick, less blood, less pain!• Insulin

- needles long, not on prescription, quite painful.

- now needles short, on prescription, no pain.

Blood Glucose monitoring

• Everyday.

• Where and how to test.

• How do I respond to results.

• If low?

• If high?

Hypos• 4’s the floor!• Those treated with insulin start to loose hypo

symptoms if this occurs frequently.• How do I feel?

- Sleepy

- Trembles

- Vague/Slow

- Blurred or double vision

- Quiet

- Sweaty

How to treat Hypo’s

FIRST AID •Treat with quick acting carbohydrate

- 3/4 jelly babies, ½ tea cup orange juice or Lucozade, 2 sachets of sugar into the

cheeks.

- Check sugars again in 10 mins and repeat.

- If meal some time off add slow acting carb too! A sandwich, fruit or 2 biscuits

- Feel a fool, left with a terrible headache nothing takes away.

Driving• Tell DVLA and insurance! License renewed

every 3 years and Doctors notes checked.• 5 to drive!!• Test during 2 hours before I drive.• Stop and test every 2 hours.• If hypo

- get out of the driving seat

- check my sugar

- take some quick acting carbohydrate

- don’t drive again till sugar up to 5 for 45 mins

Eating out and difficulties!

• How and where do I inject myself?

• Unusual food, sugar in vegetables in hotels!!

• How do I gauge how much to give?

- Carbs and Cals

- Some folk can go on DAFNE courses

Holidays

• Holidays abroad

-Travel vacs

- ID, letter or ID card for airports

- Insulin and supplies in hand luggage

- Double supplies

- Where to keep my insulin – Frio bags

- Affects of heat, sunbathing/swimming

Babies

• Plan in advance and go to pre pregnancy clinic.

• Looked after in hospital, not primary care.

• Really important that blood sugars are as perfect as possible as higher sugars increase risks of miscarriage and still birth.

• I lost 4 pregnancies and have 7 years between children despite normal HbA1c!

How my disease progressed

• Numbers of injections

- 2 a day

- 4 a day

- 5/6 a day

• Dawn phenomena

• Pump!

Pumps

• Will not suit everyone but:-– Complete freedom– Must blood test at least 3 times a day– Only short acting insulin

Understanding Diabetes